Japon 2002
"This book – based on repeated alternations of the subjects – expresses the intensity of the photographer’s gaze on people as well as on objects. The composition of each image clearly reveals the same intention, the same starkness and the same desire not to stray from the essential. The dialogue established between the portraits and the still life pieces, which the author continues in his book on Mali, gives a certain rhythm to the pages. Even so, the photographer – also the book’s layout artist – does not impose upon his readers how the photographs connect with one another. Instead, he allows for the possibility of looking at each in isolation. As a result, one can be captivated by the pleasing contrast between two photographs placed one after the other, or one can seek to follow the separate progression of one of the series.
As Roland Barthes wrote, “The Japanese sign is strong: superbly regulated, constructed, displayed, never naturalized nor rationalized. The Japanese sign is meaningless: its signifier disappears.” In the same way, the identity of the faces and the purpose of the objects in this book leave room for a purely irrational, spiritual atmosphere that envelops the entire book, intensifying as it reaches its final pages." - Gabriel Bauret, author and photography exhibition commissioner.
As Roland Barthes wrote, “The Japanese sign is strong: superbly regulated, constructed, displayed, never naturalized nor rationalized. The Japanese sign is meaningless: its signifier disappears.” In the same way, the identity of the faces and the purpose of the objects in this book leave room for a purely irrational, spiritual atmosphere that envelops the entire book, intensifying as it reaches its final pages." - Gabriel Bauret, author and photography exhibition commissioner.
